The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

"Consider defeat before victory. If fate is truly beyond my control, what should I do?"

"..."

Several days later

The Western Sea, the Valley of the Gods.

Hell may not exist in the world at all, but right now it is playing out on this island.

The air was not filled with a sacred fragrance, but with an overwhelming, pungent smell of rust, burnt flesh, and the sour, putrid stench of despair itself.

Sunlight pierced through the thin clouds, but could not dispel the gloom that shrouded the huge "hunting ground" in the center of the valley. Instead, it illuminated every drop of blood and every distorted face with exquisite detail, like a projection of hell.

The Celestial Dragons wore magnificent protective suits and transparent hoods that shielded them from the "filthy" air, their faces bearing childlike, innocent yet cruel smiles.

The hunted slaves screamed and ran away, dying in endless despair as they were cruelly tortured and murdered.

"why?"

"Is this still the righteous navy?!"

Seventeen-year-old Dorrag knelt amidst the billowing smoke, his crumbling faith leaving him powerless.

They were summoned to board a warship and then arrived at an island called "God Valley," where the major ordered them to shoot tranquilizer guns at the unresisting civilians.

The major's explanation was that it was a military exercise!

What kind of military exercises would require the navy to take action against unarmed civilians?

"Major, what exactly is the objective of this operation?!"

"You newcomer, you're ten years too early to be questioning me!"

"But, sir..."

"Hey! Sergeant, who is this arrogant new recruit...?"

If it weren't for the squad leader speaking up for him, Dorag would probably already be locked in a cell in the ship's lower deck, waiting to be tried by a military court.

However, this is considered relatively mild.

Other recruits questioned this, and then... were executed on the spot!

With "deserters" and "traitors" punished, the rest, no matter how unwilling or resentful, had no choice but to grit their teeth and carry out the orders.

"Soldiers take obedience to orders as their primary duty, and personal thoughts will only hinder the 'military will'."

The squad leader's words of advice echoed in his ears, causing Dorrag immense pain.

He believed those words and obeyed orders, firing tranquilizer darts at civilians.

At this moment, the civilians he had drugged and imprisoned were being hunted and slaughtered by the Celestial Dragons!

"no!"

Dorrag suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction from which the horrific screams were coming.

"I have to pull myself together, I have to do something!"

Dorrag stood up and stumbled forward as fast as he could.

The navy withdrew from the island and guarded the coast before the hunting game began. At this moment, he was the only real navy man on the island!

Chapter 7: Landing on the Valley of the Gods!

Bang

Gunshots rang out, and Dorag, who was running wildly, had a scratch on his right arm, with the skin torn and blood flowing out quickly.

Dorag stopped in his tracks, looking nervously in the direction from which the bullets had come.

Behind the large tree, a Celestial Dragon, surrounded by four CP agents in black suits, strode out with an arrogant gait.

"Hey, Navy! Who gave you permission to be here?"

With his hair styled in a bun and his face ugly, Rimosie Max raised his arrogant chin and pointed his gun at Dorag.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Dorag's forehead. He opened his mouth helplessly, but didn't know what to say.

Even though his faith in "justice" has collapsed, the idea that the Celestial Dragons are descendants of the creator god still deeply binds him.

Despite his "ordinary" upbringing, he still harbors a natural fear of the Celestial Dragons.

"Whatever, since you're here, you're the prey!"

Max grinned menacingly and strained his index finger to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, in the jungle.

A disheveled man with long orange hair and a lot of body hair, wearing a double-breasted long military uniform, was standing under a big tree, kicking the tree trunk again and again.

"How did you get so high up? I've already laid out 'thorns' as a cushion for you, jump down!"

"no, do not want!"

A child huddled precariously on a tree branch, his body swaying as the tree trunk shook from being kicked.

The child was taught by his parents that everyone was kind and gentle, so he couldn't understand why the people under the tree could be so cruel.

"Please stop! That's my child!"

The child's father knelt under the tree, pleading with the orange-haired man, which only made the man more excited and laugh wildly.

This is no ordinary man, but Shepard Somaz Saint, a member of the "Knights of God"!

"Make it even more pitiful, even more pathetic!"

Somaz's eyes behind his sunglasses were bloodshot, a sickly peak.

As he kicked the tree trunk again, the child huddled on the branch finally lost his balance and fell towards the thorns below.

"It's okay! I'll catch you!"

The child's father lunged forward and caught his child, then they both fell into the thorns.

The father died instantly from being impaled by thorns, but as he breathed his last, he kept his hands raised high, shielding his child from danger.

"Ah~ that's so touching!"

Somaz raised his hand to his forehead, his eyes filled with even more cruelty, as thorns extended from his body and began to entangle the child being supported by his father's corpse.

boom

Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted.

The thorns driven by Somaz paused in mid-air as he turned to look towards the east of the island.

None of the Celestial Dragons participating in the hunting game used shoulder-fired shells, and such a violent explosion could only have come from a warship.

There's only one possibility: something happened on the east coast!

Somaz reluctantly abandoned the child and ran towards the eastern coast with a gloomy face.

the other side

As Max was about to fire, he was startled by the sudden, violent explosion, causing the muzzle of his gun to deflect sharply.

Ignoring the bullets that had gone unfired, Dorrag decisively turned and ran westward toward the island, in the opposite direction of the explosion.

At this time, Dorag is not yet the future leader of the revolution; he is just a naive seventeen-year-old boy.

In terms of combat power, he's not even as good as Luffy when he was sixteen and hadn't even set sail yet!

Nevertheless, Dragon did not want to survive; he only wanted to do something for the civilians who had been massacred on the island.

Eastern coastline

Ships flying the skull and crossbones flag crashed into the island one after another, utterly destroying the naval warships that formed an iron wall around it.

The marines, like the civilians hunted on the island, were slaughtered by the pirates as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

"It's...it's the Rocks Pirates!"

"Not only that, but well-known pirates are attacking one after another..."

The surviving warships were broadcasting the battle situation to the unsuspecting Celestial Dragons on the island one second, and the next second they were cleaved into pieces by a magnificent, earth-shattering slash.

The Rocks Pirates' flagship crashed straight into a pile of burning debris, and figures leaped from the deck and landed on the beach.

The moment John landed, he raised his hand and smashed a bottle on the head of the rear admiral who was getting up from the ground. Armament Haki covered his head and smashed it into a bloody mist.

"It's ironic. The Navy helped the Celestial Dragons slaughter civilians like vegetables, and now the Navy itself has become the vegetables to be slaughtered at will."

His "mind network" had covered the entire island, and the hellish scene was vividly imprinted in his mind without any omission.

Even though he had witnessed bloodshed and death over the years with his "predecessor," the horrific scene on the island still made his heart clench uncontrollably.

The word "beast" is not even enough to describe one ten-thousandth of the Celestial Dragons!

"Hey! Men!"

A flicker of worry crossed Lockes' eyes as he raised his rapier and shouted "Erosion!"

"There are 'Shakky', 'treasure' and 'Devil Fruit' here. There's no benefit in us fighting amongst ourselves."

"Let's establish a temporary cooperative system first, and then split the treasure equally when we get back. Anyone have any objections? You bastards!"

As soon as Lockes finished speaking, the cadres began to express their own thoughts.

"Shaqi can't be separated!"

"Whoever helps the most will definitely be the one Xia Qi will take a liking to!"

"Do as you please. I'm just worried about her safety as a friend. But if she falls in love with me because of this, that wouldn't be bad either..."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Newgate!"

"A bunch of idiots! Even if the world turns upside down, Xia Qi won't give you a second glance!"

"Lingling, are you really going to give me the Devil Fruit?"

John gave the group of "suppressed" guys a cold look, having lost all interest in playing along with their act any longer.

He understood that the monotony and emptiness of long voyages could make people incredibly lonely, to the point that even seeing a sow would seem attractive.

But a man must have backbone. If someone looks down on me, then I'll tell her to get lost!